Haiti's transitional government council has appointed Garry Conille as the new prime minister to lead the violence-hit Caribbean nation.
Conille briefly served in that role from 2011 to 2012.
A council member told AFP that Conille was chosen in a 6-1 vote Tuesday afternoon.
Council president Edgard Leblanc and member Fritz Alphonse Jean also announced Conille's selection on social media.
Suite à des échanges au sein du Conseil Présidentiel de Transition après les auditions des candidats retenus pour le poste de Premier Ministre, le Dr. Garry Conille est choisi par consensus pour diriger le gouvernement de la période de Transition.
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— Edgard LEBLANC Fils (@EdgardLeblanc) May 28, 2024
The move comes as Haiti waits desperately for the deployment of a Kenyan-led multinational force tasked with wresting back control from powerful and violent gangs that control swaths of the capital.
The UN-backed security mission, which the United States is providing with logistical support, is supposed to help Haiti's weak, outgunned police force defeat the gangs.
Armed groups, which also control large parts of the countryside, have long terrorized ordinary Haitians with random shootings, kidnappings, and sexual violence.
The country has been wracked for decades by poverty, natural disasters, political instability, and violence. It has had no president since the assassination of Jovenel Moise in 2021, and it has no sitting parliament.
The transitional council came to power last month as Haiti's unpopular and unelected prime minister, Ariel Henry, submitted his formal resignation after armed gangs rose up and demanded his ouster.
